§ Mr. Austin Mitchellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will circulate in the Official Report a table showing bank lending to the private sector each year since 1970 and each quarter since 1 January 1978 with a breakdown by class borrower, including manufacturing industry and importers of goods and services; and whether he will provide an explanation of any change in the share taken by manufacturing industry, particularly in recent months.
§ Mr. LawsonAn industrial analysis of net bank lending to United Kingdom residents is provided in table 6.17 of the current issue of Financial Statistics and equivalent tables in earlier issues. There was a change in the coverage of the statistics in 1975 and complete data are not available for that year. For a more comprehensive picture of the size and direction of bank lending—particularly in recent months—the hon. Member will wish to include the data on bank acceptances in Financial Statistics table 6.18.
In both tables, data are provided for quarters ending in mid February, May, August and November. Importers of goods and services—some of which are manufacturing firms—are not distinguished in the analysis, which is based On the Standard Industrial Classification.
Changes in the share of bank borrowing between various industries reflect changes in economic activity, trading conditions and the effects of industrial disputes.